


How to capture a dragon's heart

by AnimaLibra



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragon Makoto, Dragon Rei, Dragon Rider!Haru, Dragon Rider!Nagisa, Dragon Rider!Rin, Dragon Riders, Dragon Sosuke, Fantasy AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-04-07 19:06:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4274610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimaLibra/pseuds/AnimaLibra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world where the living are threatened by hideous monsters of the underworld, humans and dragons united to fight against their new sworn enemy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everybody!  
> Thanks to the hot weather I kinda entered a delirious state and got hit by this idea. Tell me if you're interested in this, I think it has potential but if you don't want to read this stuff...well...pls tell me how you think about it (/^▽^)/  
> Thanks for reading and enjoy! (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

In another time where fantastic creatures and monsters were still living, humans and dragons joined forces to fight against their common enemy. After centuries of fighting against each other, the human and dragon race was threatened to be overthrown by the dark creatures of the underworld. They invaded their lands and destroyed everything on their way. Of course the humans and dragons tried to fight on their own at the beginning but after a few years it was apparent that nobody could defeat this enemy alone.   
The background how the gate of the underworld was opened was still clouded in ignorance but in the end it didn’t matter to the living who were forced to leave their homes and fled through the different provinces and countries.  
It has almost been 10 years till humans and dragons joined forces. Over the years a special educational system has been established where human children and young dragons learned to fight side by side taking advantage of the other races’ abilities.

Haruka Nanase was one of those children who went to a dragon rider school. It wasn’t his idea, more like his parents dragged him to it. Of course he had to go, especially when his father was one of the most skilled dragon riders and bonded with his partner resulting in Haruka’s birth. It was rare for a human and dragon to have a romantic relationship especially since dragons tended to think lowly of the human race.   
Still there he was, a child of a human man and a water dragon. People looked at him in wonder trying to figure out where his dragon parts where hiding, but in contrast to his mother Haruka wasn’t able to transform into a dragon because the human gene in him was far stronger. He looked like a normal boy and the only part of him that would show his origin were his azure eyes that shone as brightly as the ocean. Nevertheless sometimes when he would touch his most favorite element, some light blue scales would appear on his wet skin and disappeared the minute he would leave the water. It wasn’t astonishing that Haruka Nanase loved swimming, or water in general and it wasn’t surprising either that he frequently skipped classes to go to the nearby beach. 

His best friends since middle school scolded him from time to time because in contrast to Rin, Haru didn’t pay attention to his grades or performance even if he was naturally talented and on the other side Nagisa was forced to pay attention thanks to his parents. He didn’t feel the need to improve in something he didn’t really like. Only when Rin challenged him to little duels he would take the lessons seriously. And so the years went by and Haru became a teenager in the blink of an eye. Finally graduating after years of attending school it was now time to meet his partner.

 

Haru looked at the people standing beside him and studied their nervous and sometimes excited expressions. It was a big day for everyone because they had trained for years for this special event. Taking a deep breath he calmed himself down knowing that he couldn’t do anything in this moment. He was at his destiny’s mercy, hoping that at least he would get a partner he would get along with. Peeking at the redhead beside him he noticed a quick flash of familiar teeth. Of course Rin was excited, nothing else was expected of him. One of the best dragon riders in his class, courageous, energetic, full of fire and force Rin was admired by everyone. And here he was, standing beside his friend, the ‘hope’, the ‘prodigy’ the adults called him at the beginning but Haru never had the intention of becoming the person others wanted him to be. He wanted to be his own self, he wanted to be free and it didn’t take long till the first rumors spread about him being a ‘disappointment’ or, when the comments became worse, a ‘freak’ or ‘an abortion of nature’. At first it hurt but he had to admit that he became used to it, almost indifferent towards these people and their opinion. But there were also his friends who would defend him, Rin with his fists and Nagisa with his skilled mouth. Peeking at the blonde a few steps away he saw nervous pink eyes looking at him. He nodded once and showed his friend a little smile. They were all in the same boot. Nagisa smiled back in relieve and turned his gaze back to the front. Haru followed suit noticing that the headmaster and another man older than every person he had seen in his life till now were standing on the stage. As always he didn’t really listen to the speech. With a bored expression he observed his surroundings only when Rin nudged his side he looked at the other with surprised blue eyes. The redhead frowned and whispered, “Hey we have to spread. 30 feet between each person.”

Haru shrugged and counted his steps to the other side till he reached the desired number. Then he faced the front again and watched his classmates doing the same. When everybody had finished their task the headmaster spoke again, “Now I will announce the pairings. Takahashi Ryou and Edward Miles.”

All eyes on him one of Haru’s classmates began to look nervously around. Then a big shadow glided over their heads and within the next seconds a big brown dragon with red eyes landed before the poor guy. Suppressing his fear, the human took a few steps forward and greeted his fellow partner as his teacher showed them in class the other day. Everybody was quite shocked by the impact but nobody had time to calm down when the headmaster announced the next pair.   
In Haru’s eyes the good thing was the fact that he was one of the last ones in line so he had enough time to adjust to the unfamiliar situation. While Rin watched eagerly every dragon landing with shining eyes and Nagisa on the other hand with open mouth, Haru thought about his mother and her dragon form. In contrast to most of his classmates he was inevitably used to dragons, especially since there was a family meeting every year at the Nanase household. Nevertheless his mother has warned him every time that dragons could be really dangerous and didn’t mind if they hurt a human every now and then. So Haru stayed still and tried to evade the other’s eyes.

When Rin finally had his turn, he grinned toothy while observing the sky excitedly. “Rin Matsuoka and Sosuke Yamazaki” rang in his ears and his red eyes searched for any sights of his new partner. At the other end of the city he could see a little shadow approaching rapidly and within the next ten seconds the now big shadow circled around the platform. With a loud thump a huge black dragon with teal eyes landed only a few feet away from him. The creature fixated him with his eyes and snorted. Spreading his spiky wings a few times he observed the human before him. 

Rin was flabbergasted. This dragon was…huge…and awesome and it looked so strong and dangerous and…it was HIS dragon…shaking his head a few times he reminded himself of the greeting procedure and took a few steps forward till he was almost underneath the creature. He bowed humbly and mumbled the rhyme in an old dragon language. When Rin raised his head he saw that the dragon snorted almost arrogantly at him and turned his head away. Anger filled him because how could this dragon, his new partner, dare to ignore him! He was the top of his class! He was fucking awesome at dragon riding! Crossing his arms he glared at the creature and frowned.

 

Haru watched the whole scene and frowned slightly. Until now most of the dragons were rather friendly and he hadn’t thought that Rin would get a dragon with a bad attitude, especially because he was really skilled. When his azure eye met teal ones the creature growled at him viciously and took a step towards him, but the dragon didn’t know Rin, especially when he was angry. The redhead punched lightly on one of the creature’s arms and shouted, “Hey big guy, play nice, okay?”

And Haru almost snickered when he saw the surprised expression on the black dragon’s face. With big eyes he stared at the human before him for a few moments. Then he backed off and returned to his previous position. Rin grinned broadly and said encouragingly, “Well done!”  
If Haru didn’t know better he could almost think that out of embarrassment the dragon turned his head away.

When he had his turn Haru felt still nervous. He gulped and waited for the headmaster to announce his partner. 

“Haruka Nanase and Makoto Tachibana.”

There it was. His new partner. Makoto Tachibana. With nervous eyes he studied the sky closely for any approaching shadows. After a few moments a cough caught his attention.  
With big eyes he looked at the person standing before him. It was a boy, maybe the same age as him and 1 or 2 heads taller than him. His brown hair almost hid his bright green eyes. He was wearing a light green kimono matching his eye color. At first Haru almost mistook him for a human, but the two straight horns on his head and the long tail covered in jade like scales showed him that this boy was apparently his partner. Haru didn’t notice that he was staring at the other, only when the dragon boy fumbled nervously with his fingers and his tail wagged from side to side he turned his head to the side and released the other from his intense gaze.  
From the corner of his eyes he could see that his partner exhaled relieved. 

“Eh, hello…maybe we should greet each other?” asked the dragon boy unsurely but politely while rubbing his neck awkwardly.

Right. There was the greeting ceremony.

Haru took a few steps forward and mumbled the familiar verse. When he bowed and looked up he saw the brightest smile he had ever seen. Asking himself how somebody could smile like that the other answered his verse with one of his own. Taking his place beside the human, the dragon boy whispered, “Hello, my name is Makoto Tachibana. I’m glad I can finally meet you. I hope we will get along.” He smiled at Haru who grunted a low “Mhm” as response. This guy smiled too often, he thought to himself but at the same time he couldn’t stop himself from sneaking peeks at his new partner.

 

Nagisa was almost the last one. When he heard the first letters of his name he listened eagerly. “Nagisa Hazuki and Rei Ryugazaki.”

Of course he was nervous but Rin-chan and Haru-chan already got so cool partners that he hoped that his would be cool too. A flash of colors caught his attention and in contrast to the other dragons this one landed almost silently and gracefully. Nagisa’s mouth was wide open in surprise.   
A blue-purple dragon was standing before him with rainbow colored wings and lavender eyes. It looked so beautiful, like the definition of grace and delicacy that the blonde needed a few moments to process the view. The dragon looked straight at him with a piercing gaze, studying him from head to toe. When Nagisa finally found his speech again he hastily took a few steps forward, almost rushed the verse and didn’t even wait for the other to answer. He exclaimed in a cheerful voice how beautiful and pretty and awesome his new partner was while bouncing around the creature. The poor dragon looked almost overwhelmed by the blonde little boy. It beat his wings nervously while watching the blonde hugging one of his scaly arms. He coughed a few times to get the human’s attention but Nagisa didn’t listen and after a few minutes the dragon surrendered to his lively partner.


	2. Gift

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your lovely comments I'm glad you like the idea because there are a lot of ideas in my head I want to write down one after another σ(≧ε≦ｏ) Unfortunately I'm quite busy with my life so I can only update irregularly ( ≧Д≦) Thanks for all your support! If you have any wishes, ideas, questions let me know I'll try to answer as soon as possible ヾ(*ゝω・*)ﾉ

“And now it is time to present your gift fellow dragons!” announced the older unknown man beside their headmaster while extending his arms to the air and presenting a pair of bright white wings. 

Haru only listened halfheartedly. He was still too enraptured by the dragon boy standing beside him. Some part of his mind wondered why he was the only one with a dragon partner in human form but on the other hand he didn’t feel the need to know. He was freed out of his thoughts when Makoto turned to him and tucked at his tail. Wincing quietly he took one scale out of his tail and presented it Haru. With a blank expression he studied the shining green scale in the other’s hand and forgot what he was supposed to do. 

Makoto became slightly nervous when he noticed that his partner hadn’t the intention to respond. He shifted from one foot on the other and tried to catch the other’s gaze. Looking into deep azure eyes his breathing stopped for a moment, he was still caught off guard when he faced his human partner. Something about him was different than the other humans but he couldn’t tell what it was therefore he tried to inspect Haru as closely as possible without bothering the other. Nevertheless they had to proceed so he extended his hands a little bit more to encourage him to act his part.

Turning his gaze back to the green scale Haru carefully took the little thing in his hands and examined it closely. It was shining beautifully while being soft and hard at the same time. He knew the feel of dragon scales because of his mother and himself but the scales of every dragon differed somehow, some are harder than others, some sparkle more or have an other shape.

“Here” said Makoto softly and showed him a silver necklace with a little pendant on it. He took the scale out of Haru’s hands and put it in the silver pendant. Inspecting his work with content eyes he showed his human his result with a gentle smile. Then he offered to put it on him. 

Haru closed his eyes slightly embarrassed that Makoto wanted to dress him because he could perfectly do it on his own. Nevertheless he followed the other’s lead and within a few moments he felt a little weight around his neck. Opening his eyes he studied the little pendant which was engraved in foreign letters he couldn’t read. Switching his gaze over to his partner he was blinded by a bright smile and shining green eyes. Embarrassed he turned his head to the other side while trying to ignore the blush on his cheeks.

 

 

Rin looked expectantly at his dragon who tried to ignore the order of his leader. Clearing his throat audibly the redhead crossed his arms and lifted one of his eyebrows. The silent “Come on” was obvious in his eyes.

Sousuke snorted and tucked with his teeth at one scale on his shoulder. Without batting an eye he took the scale out of his skin and threw it at his human. Rin caught it in surprise. He studied his catch with curious eyes admiring the shiny black scale. Its surface was so smooth that it almost appeared like liquid. The blackness was so beautiful and scary at the same time that the redhead lost himself in the depths of it.   
When he noticed curious teal eyes on him he looked at the dragon and briefly studied him. Meeting his eyes he grinned toothy and said cheerfully, “Thanks man!”

The dragon turned his head away but Rin saw his tail moving up and down. Suppressing a chuckle he knew that the other was pleased with his reaction nevertheless he tried to act tough while his body betrayed him.   
The human took a silver bracelet out of his pocket and put the scale on a free spot. Pressing it softly inside the shape it fitted perfectly. With proud eyes he looked at his new bracelet he had specially bought for this occasion. He immediately put it on and inspected the result. Showing it off to his partner he smiled broadly. The dragon peeked at him from the corner of his eyes and his features softened while inspecting the jewelry. 

 

Nagisa watched with big eyes the beautiful dragon before him. Rei grabbed one of his scales with his claws and pulled on it with a frown. When he finally held the scale in his claws he presented it his human who looked at him with open mouth. The blonde completely forgot what he was supposed to do. He was just so overwhelmed by his new partner and the whole incident that he forgot his surroundings. When understanding finally dawned on him his pink eyes began to sparkle. With a huge smile he tackled the dragon ignoring his personal space and hugged him tightly. 

Rei had a lot of trouble to hold onto the scale while his new partner tackled him with full force. Irritation filled him at the beginning but when he saw the happy expression and the genuine smile on the human’s face he couldn’t stay angry. So he waited for the other to calm down to present the scale again. 

Nagisa noticed the open claw with a blue scale in the middle. He cautiously took it in his hands and inspected it curiously. When the sunlight hit the surface the scale sparkled in beautiful rainbow colors. The blonde hold his breath while turning it in every possible direction and enjoying the bright colors.

“It’s beautiful Rei-chan!” he exclaimed suddenly and smiled broadly. 

The dragon nodded his head and tried to hide the light blush in his cheeks. He tried to say something but didn’t instead he pointed with his nose on the scale and nodded again.  
Nagisa on the other side tilted his head to the other side in question. When he finally knew what the other wanted he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

“Eh you know I didn’t prepare anything for the scale, sorry” he apologized honestly.

Rei looked at him with a blank expression and finally sighed after a few moments. He presented one of his claws to his partner while eying the scale. Nagisa eyed the claw and gasped. There was a ring around it with a hole at its centre. He carefully took the ring off and inspected it. It was a silver ring with unfamiliar signs on it. Strange. Switching his gaze from the jewelry to the scale he put it inside the ring with a little bit of force. Studying his present with sparkling eyes he showed the result his partner and said merrily, “Thank you Rei-chan! You’re the best!”

Still not used to the other’s reaction the dragon turned his face to the other side overwhelmed by the blonde’s brightness. 

“Now our shared time is over. You will see your partners tomorrow after getting familiar with your new responsibility. Please remember that for the next weeks you will live together to establish a bond between each other and train to work together. You will need it in the future. I say it once again: You will enter the war zone soon and therefore you need to trust each other with your life otherwise you will be fresh prey for the enemy.”

The headmaster looked meaningfully at his students, shadows dancing before his eyes till he continued after a few moments of silence.

“You will be divided in squads after leaving for the battlefield. Wishes will be considered so leave them at the headquarter office till the end of next week. Dismissed!”

 

After the last words were spoken the dragons began to turn around and fly away one after another. Sosuke looked briefly over his shoulder to see strong red eyes watching him. With a few flaps of his big wings he left the stone ground without any problems and followed the others.  
Rei bowed politely for his good bye. Turning around he was ready to set off when his human shouted after him “See you next time Rei-chan!” He didn’t look at the blonde when he flew away but he knew that he was waving wildly. Flying after his fellow dragons he smiled softly while enjoying the beautiful sunset.

The only one who didn’t follow the others was Makoto. Instead he politely bid his good bye and walked to the headmasters. Looking at the flying dragons with a sad expression he bid his lip. Haru almost stopped him from leaving out of reflex but he held himself back. It was too irrational, why did he feel the need to follow the other? And why did it bother that his partner looked so sad? He only knew him for a few minutes so no need to work himself up about it. 

When Makoto left with his headmaster Haru frowned. He had forgotten to ask him why he was in his human form the whole time. Well, he would ask him next time. Looking over to his friends Nagisa was bouncing around while showing his new ring off. Rin on the other hand was talking about something enthusiastically.   
Studying the pendant around his neck Haru tore his eyes away and walked over to the others.


	3. Silence before the Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Finally a new chapter, even if it's rather short I hope you enjoy it. As the title says the next chapters will be more intense when the story progresses so pls be a little bit more patient o(´д｀o)  
> Thanks for all the positive and nice comments and your support I'm glad you're interested in this story (=^-ω-^=)  
> See you next time!

After Makoto and Sosuke returned to the school grounds they immediately headed towards their usual secret bathing place. It became a habit since the black dragon felt the need to clean himself after every flight he took.

When Sosuke had swum several rounds in the school lake he turned towards his friend who was sitting on the shore waiting for him to finish his bath.

“So what do you think of these humans?” he asked with a hint of curiosity in his teal eyes. 

“Ah…” Makoto rubbed the back of his head while looking for an appropriate answer. 

“Well…I think they were kind of…nice…” replied the brunette softly and turned his gaze to the night sky filled with thousands of twinkling stars.

He could hear the loud snort of the black dragon who turned around and dived under water. 

It was rather obvious that Sosuke didn’t like humans. Makoto once tried to ask after the reason but was turned down with an angry glare and deep frown on his friend’s side. After that he never tried again. In the end he didn’t want to damage their friendship because of his simple curiosity especially since he only had a few friends.

Looking at his hands Makoto sighed. Today he was again not able to transform into his dragon form although he practiced it every day for the last 4 years. He felt frustrated because he didn’t even know why he was in his human form the whole time or why he couldn’t turn back. Even his parents couldn’t explain it and his parents really knew a lot. 

Watching Sousuke’s silhouette swimming across the lake Makoto asked himself how it would feel to be a dragon again. It seemed strange because he couldn’t remember. He tried and tried but no memories appeared before his eyes. It almost seemed like he never was a dragon to begin with but that wasn’t possible. His scales, horns and tail were quite obvious traits of a dragon. 

Stroking thoughtfully his tail he let his mind wander. 

“Hey.” 

With big green eyes he looked at the wet black dragon before him.

“I’m ready, we can go.”

And so Makoto stood up, brushed the grass off his clothes and followed his friend to the dorms.

 

“Look, there’s Tachibana again.”

“THE famous Tachibana? The one who can’t transform?”

“Yeah.”

“Even at the ceremony he was in his human form, how shameful.”

“Embarrassing.”

“Disgrace.”

Closing his eyes Makoto ignored the hateful whispers. It wasn’t the first time he heard the rumors and insults of his inability to turn into a dragon, their rightful form.

In contrast to most of the common rumors dragons preferred their dragon form in every possible situation. Being in human form was sometimes in special cases necessary but otherwise it was unsightly.

“Don’t listen to them” mumbled Sousuke beside him.

Flashing a smile at his friend Makoto replied, “I know.”

But still…

Being the only one who couldn’t transform although he trained so hard…it was frustrating and irritating…but he would never show it.

So he continued to smile and talk to his best friend while hiding his clenched fists in his clothes.

 

 

“Now. Can someone show me how you combine your fire breath with air magic?” 

Looking around his pupils the teacher, a grey dragon with piercing red eyes, waited for a response.

Lifting one of his wings Rei proudly returned the teacher’s gaze with known eyes.

“Yes, Ryugazaki.”

Clearing his throat the blue purple dragon began,

“First you have to cast your air magic right before your mouth. It is essential that the space between your target and the surroundings is as small as possible so it’s even more efficient. Then you use you fire breath and illuminate the air magic.”

While Rei explained he underlined his words with actions.

“Good Ryugazaki” praised the teacher and nodded.

With a big smile and brimming with confidence and pride Rei walked back to his place while the rest of his class watched him with annoyance. Not everybody liked his efforts in studying and formal behavior. Nevertheless most of his classmates admired him for his knowledge.  
Most of the time class flew by in the blink of an eye especially since Rei jumped in every time the others couldn’t answer a question and finally when lunch break arrived he took his prepared meal and flew over to their usual eating place.

 

“Ah Rei! Hello!” exclaimed Makoto merrily while waving enthusiastically.

“Yo Ryugazaki” mumbled Sosuke beside him and turned his attention back to his lunch box. 

As gracefully as usual Rei landed without making any sound or disruption. Carefully placing his own lunch on the ground he sat down and began to open the box.

“Hello Makoto-senpai, hello Yamazaki-senpai. How was your class?” he asked politely.

“Ah well it was kinda interesting I guess” replied the brunette and chuckled awkwardly.

“You mean boring as hell” added Sosuke and snorted.

“It wasn’t THAT bad…”

“Makoto, I slept for whole 5 minutes without you noticing it” said the other deadpan.

Choking on his food Makoto coughed a few times till he finally drank some of his juice.

Rei looked at both of them with a serious expression. “You have to pay attention to our lessons otherwise you might have problems with the upcoming finals…”

“Eh…hehehe…we will, promise” replied Makoto awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head.

“We won’t fail, they won’t let us” said Sosuke with a frown on his face.

It was an unspoken rule that every dragon who made it this far would go into battle after their final exams. It wasn’t important which grades you had in your graduation certificate or how well you did in your school career because in the end the battlefield would chose the successful ones. Of course good grades show knowledge and practice in fighting and defending but if someone couldn’t use it in a real battle it meant nothing.

“Hey, how about we play some games after school?” proposed Makoto after finishing his meal.

“I thought human games were prohibited” replied Sosuke with a smirk. He really liked to tease Makoto because of his ‘criminal act’.

Human things were prohibited on school ground therefore once every year the teachers would rummage around the school dorms for any kind of human belongings. Since Makoto couldn’t play any games dragons were supposed to be playing because they always involved flying he came to like human games when his accidentally stumbled on them during an excursion. After a while his friends found out his new passion and Makoto had to listen to a serious lecture of Rei but in the end they also began to enjoy them.

“Come on you know I can’t throw them out. I mean it’s not like we hurt somebody when we play…and we would waste our money we invested when we throw them out now, so…” said the brunette sheepishly.

“Count me in” interrupted the black dragon beside him and poked him with his elbow.

With four eyes looking expectantly at Rei he had no other choice but to join in too.


End file.
